Paul Marshall banged his hands together and the sound ricocheted between the columns and the back wall of the pavilion. 'There's something I do rather well,' he called. 'With crushed ice, rum and melted chocolate.'The suggestion prompted an exchange of glances between Cecilia and her brother, and thus their discord was resolved.

I realise that presenting a cocktail as my first recipe in January could be a little cruel... at least for those of you two days in to a 'dry January'. To be fair though, you could certainly consider this drink as a dessert rather than a cocktail (if you've vowed to forego desserts too, I'm not quite sure this one is going to be for you). For those of you still with me, this is a truly special drink, one I have very much enjoyed developing.

Unlike the odious Paul Marshall, I don't pretend to be a master cocktail maker. More often than not, I'll just order a gin martini in the manner of Noel Coward: "A perfect martini should be made by filling a glass with gin, then waving it in the general direction of Italy". But I do like to play around with flavours, and my experience with rum tells me it works well with winter spices. So although Cecelia and Leon enjoy this cocktail on the hottest day of the summer, I've developed one instead for the dark days of January - I've left out Paul's crushed ice, which can do funny things to melted chocolate, and have added some nutmeg and ginger (not to mention rum) that will warm you to your toes.